SAN FRANCISCO (Northern California Record) — Riverside attorney Elisa Ann Castro faces disbarment by default following a State Bar of California recommendation after she allegedly failed to comply with the conditions of a previous disciplinary probation.
Castro is alleged to have failed to submit three quarterly reports, timely submit three additional quarterly reports and timely submit proof that she attended the state bar's ethics school and passed the test at session's end, according to the seven-page decision and order of involuntary inactive enrollment issued April 5 by the state bar court.
Castro failed to participate in person or via counsel and state bar's decision and order for disbarment was entered by default. In such cases, in which an attorney fails to participate in a California State Bar disciplinary proceeding despite adequate notice and opportunity, the bar invokes Rule 5.85, which provides the procedure for the state bar to recommend an attorney’s disbarment.
The state bar's decision is pending final action by the California Supreme Court, an appeal before the state bar's review department or expiration of time in which parties can request further review within the state bar court.
Castro's recommended discipline was among the dispositions filed earlier this month by the state bar court's hearing department for April.
Castro was admitted to the bar in California on Sept. 7, 1994, according to her profile at the state bar website.
In November 2015, Castro was suspended for 90 days and placed on two years' probation with the threat of two years' suspension if she didn't comply with the terms of her disciplinary probation over allegations arising from multiple client matters, according to information on her state bar profile. "In one matter, Castro did not promptly render an accounting to a client she’d represented in a divorce proceeding," her said profile says.
"In another matter, she failed to substitute into a client's matter, inform the client she had not done so, promptly provide an accounting of advanced fees after she was fired or perform any services of value."
In a previous discipline in September 2008, Castro was suspended over allegations she improperly withdrew from representing her clients and failed "to perform, provide prompt accounting of fees, promptly refund unearned fees or cooperate in the investigation of the matters," her state bar profile says.